Bite into the Windy City: Chicago's Most Legendary Eats

Part of the fun of exploring Chicago is experiencing some of its iconic foods. Many of them center on beef, which isn’t surprising, since Chicago was once the meatpacking capital of the world.

We’ve compiled the following list of local dishes to try, along with some restaurants where you can tuck into them.

Chicago-style hot dogs: Enjoy an all-beef hot dog from Vienna Beef resting in a poppy seed bun and piled with tomato wedges, diced onions, relish, yellow mustard, sport peppers (pickled hot peppers) and a dash of celery salt. And to be truly authentic, NO ketchup. Don’t forget the pickle spear.

A bit of trivia: Two Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary sold hot dogs from their food stand ahead of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, or World’s Fair, in Chicago’s Jackson Park. The brothers used money from the sales to open Vienna Beef, and the family-owned company still operates in Chicago.

Chicken Vesuvio: It’s said this roast chicken dish first appeared in the 1930s on the menu of Vesuvio, a Chicago restaurant. It typically comes with potato wedges and peas sautéed in a lemon garlic white wine sauce. 

Deep-dish pizza. According to legend, deep-dish pizza was first served in 1943 in Chicago at the original location of what was then Pizzeria Uno; today it’s known as Uno Pizzeria & Grill. The thick crust of a deep-dish pizza is at least one inch deep. Toppings traditionally include a LOT of cheese—mozzarella and Parmesan—as well as ground beef, mushrooms, green peppers, pepperoni, crumbled sausage and onion.

Italian beef sandwich: Fans of the Hulu/FX show “The Bear” may be surprised to learn that Chicago hasn’t always been known for its Italian beef sandwiches—it was historically more of a corned beef town. But that changed in the 1950s, according to the Chicago Tribune. Al’s sandwich shop in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood is frequently cited as the first to sell the sandwich, which is made up of thin slices of oven-roasted rump roast piled onto a hoagie roll, topped with giardiniera and dipped into au jus sauce.

Stuffed pizza. Deep-dish pizza is not the same as stuffed pizza, which is believed to have originated in Chicago in the mid-1970s. While the two pizzas share some similarities—both have a deep layer of dough that creates a basin to cradle the toppings and cheese—stuffed pizza has an extra layer of dough on top and is covered with tomato sauce. Also, the dough is flakier and usually is made with canola oil instead of corn oil, according to The Spruce Eats.

Eli’s cheesecake. In 1978, restaurateur Eli Schulman decided to create a signature dessert for his restaurant, Eli’s The Place For Steak. For about a year, between lunch and dinner service, he experimented with cheesecake recipes and came up with four versions: plain, chocolate chip, cinnamon raisin and Hawaiian. Thus, his Chicago-style cheesecake was born—golden brown on the outside, creamy inside and baked on a signature all-butter shortbread cookie crust.

Rainbow Cone. June in Chicago is a good time to enjoy this frozen treat  Joe Sapp created in 1926. It’s made up of five layers: chocolate ice cream on the bottom, followed by strawberry, Palmer House (vanilla studded with cherries and walnuts), pistachio almond and orange sherbet, all in a cone or cup.